Oct 25, 2014

Cool Places In Ipoh : Rock climbing

I just finished my Endocrine End of Module exam, now say hello weekend, hello home!

Yesterday (Thursday 23/10/14),
right after my modified essay question (MEQ) paper, my friend Paep (Amir Sufian) called.

"Nak pergi climbing tak?"
"Bila?"
"Sekarang! Cepat siap pastu datang."

I was like whattttt!?!? At this time?!?!

It was around 12 when he called me. I haven't had my lunch yet but I just can't afford to say no to things like this. And Paep is not always around so why not. I also invited Munirah to go with me.

Guided by the location shared by Paep via whatsapp, we got there after about 10 minutes of driving. Masa sampai tu ada Paep and his 3 friends; Chau, Syah and Man.

I don't know what do they call this but before everyone else can go, there will be one person (that time it was Chau) who had to go first to pasang the tali at the very top. Task dia ni kira paling bahaya la sebab tak ada tali untuk support dia kalau dia jatuh. Dah la pakai jeans je dia ni. Power betul.

Chau (grey shirt) getting ready to set up the rope

Masa mula mula Chau naik (baru 1/4 kot), i'm not sure what happened, maybe he slipped and jatuh. And since tali tak dipasang lagi, dia jatuh sampai ke bawah (base/ground). Paep gelakkan kitorang (Mun & I) sebab muka masing-masing dah cuak.

Bila Chau turun, he explained to us that everything is gonna be fine, if we ever slipped, we'll just hang there at the same spot since the tali is already set up at the top, and we can just continue climbing.

It was Syah's turn next.

Syah in action


Masa tunggu turn, sembang-sembang dengan Chau. Lepastu dia nak ajar belay. Belay tu yang orang dekat bawah jaga tali kita ikat dekat pinggang dia tu. Dia bagitau basic, belay device tu apa etc. Belay device ni ada banyak jenis (boleh refer gambar dekat bawah) and yang kta guna haritu yang bentuk macam warna hitam tu sebab senang control katanya.

verso belay

I told Mun to go first tapi Paep macam berat nak bagi sebab Mun tak ada basic. It can be risky. So Paep told me to go first and if I managed to get to the top, then only he'll let Mun go. Well bruhh, challenge accepted!

While getting ready, Paep and Chau taught me a bit about the commands used in rock climbing.


  • When the climber is all set to climb, he'll give a signal to the belayer by saying "On belay?"
  • The belayer can only start belaying when the rope is uncoiled, and tied to him. This is to ensure the climber's safety. When he is totally ready, the belayer will say "Belay on!"
  • Climber: "Ready to climb"
  • Belayer: "Climb on"
  • If the climber is falling, he is supposed to shout "FALL!" to alert the belayer so that he would hold the rope tightly


My turn!
Chau belayed for me.


This is my first time and it's a bit different from wall climbing. I think wall climbing is easier as you have the "rock" to pijak and grab scattered all over the wall. In case of rock climbing, you have to really search for the grab-able holes/rock. And sometimes, what you are grabbing are not real rocks but actually sand! Tu yang kadang-kadang terlepas and jatuh tu.

Since i'm not afraid of heights and we're not rushing to catch anything, I took my sweet time, lek lek figuring out which rock to pijak, which holes to pegang and tengok-tengok dah sampai atas! Before sampai atas tu, ada this one site where you have to like grab kuat-kuat, pull yourself up and angkat one of your kaki ke atas like really langkau/langkah/kangkang sebab batu dia tinggi. Anyhow I made it in less than half an hour i think.

akak sador :P

Achievement unlocked! I am so proud of myself.

Dekat atas tu, diorang yang dekat bawah jerit suruh pose sebab nak tangkap gambar.
Should've brought my phone up there for a selfie :P

To be honest, if Kosas didn't dare me to carry out the 30 days fitness challenge, I wouldn't be up there.
I am glad that I took that challenge (though it has been more than 2 months and i still haven't completed it hahaha).

Thank you Paep for sharing your passion with us :)
I got new experience and new friends too!

Hoping for more adventures to come insyaAllah.


And here's my favourite shot of the day taken using iPhone 5S with panorama setting.


2 comments:

Anak IbuAyah said...

ipoh area mane ye? macam best je..

CoalitionX said...

Hello, can you let me know where is this place exactly? Also your friend who set up the rope, is he local from Ipoh? Im based in KL but from Ipoh, i am actively looking for place to climb whenever i am back in Ipoh (im a climber too). The only other place i know that have climbing routes in Ipoh is Needle of Tambun. Many thanks.